Question 1: During the first face to face we used the language of Urgent vs Important to help frame our discussions and thinking around the use TIME. Reflect on why you joined Cohort 21 and your professional goals for this year. Now that the year has begun and you have met your students what IMPORTANT goal might you like to address and leverage this community to get support with.
I feel that my time is too divided among disparate projects: one that is for my grade cohort which I feel is of some benefit to me directly but necessary to the group, a JEDI one for cohort 21, and yet another personal desire to design as many tasks as possible so that they have a low floor and a high ceiling. I am aware that the school is very interested in securing the mental well being of the children. By ensuring that the children have multiple entry points to virtually all assignments, all students could feel that their education is also an exploration and expression of their identities.
A few weeks have passed since I wrote the above paragraph. I feel that my the ability levels of my students are much more homogeneous than they were last year. So I feel that it is less crucial to make assignments so flexible in terms of ability. I still believe that education should be an exploration and expression of student identities. That has remained the same. In our curriculum that (in part) entails expanding the student’s sense of connection to all the humanity that came before and the biological world at large. In this I find that our curriculum themes prove responsive to JEDI topics.
Question 2: Which of the Season 10 Strands did you choose and why? Share what you feel is both urgent and important about it for you and your school at the moment and some of the questions you have around moving forward. Feel free to change strands should you want to.
I think I need a better understanding of some of the strands before choosing.
So glad you joined Cohort 21! Looking forward to your posts.
@aiorio I am so glad you updated your post after reflecting on the state / status of your students. Cohort 21 will accelerate your learning and growth in any area that you want to apply focus to. The challenge is choosing one 🙂 This experience is best leveraged when participants focus on something they can fully control within their spheres of influence at school. This usually means the classroom but can extend beyond that if the conditions are right. If exploring JEDI across your curriculum and finding ways to integrate meaningful opportunities for students to reflect and learn seems both important and urgent then that is a worthy action plan focus and we have a STRAND designed expressly for that purpose 🙂
@gvogt @gnichols
@aiorio this is such an inspiring way to view approaches to learning – “By ensuring that the children have multiple entry points to virtually all assignments, all students could feel that their education is also an exploration and expression of their identities.” To provide students with opportunities to find personal meaning and connection with their learning is such urgent and important work, especially as we work to help improve overall wellness by creating a sense of connection and belonging in our schools and classrooms. I hope you are able to jump into the JEDI Strand conversation at the next F2F so that you can feel supported in your thinking and next steps in this area. @gvogt @tjedego
@swelbourn this was the same part of this great post that jumped out at me! “I am aware that the school is very interested in securing the mental well being of the children. By ensuring that the children have multiple entry points to virtually all assignments, all students could feel that their education is also an exploration and expression of their identities.”
You are in the right place and strand to make effective exploration into this, and I would first provoke you to dig a little deeper into what the school means by “securing” – what does that mean to you, to the principal, to the faculty at large, etc…. For me, there really is no destination when it comes to “student wellness” – rather it is an ongoing, ever-present, journey.
Looking forward to learning and working with you,
Garth.
I try to approach JEDI topics from the lens of silenced voices in all areas of the school’s science and social studies curriculum. This seems to be the most potentially fruitful approach. For example if, in geography, we are looking an event such as the discovery of the Burgess Shale while the CNR was being built, I do not want overlook what railway construction impacted Chinese Labourers and indigenous peoples. I hope to dovetail their experiences with the discovery of the famous Canadian fossils. Hopefully the topic generates as much interest as Indigenous Veterans Day did and will lead to a few projects. My question would then become…how do I help unearth silenced voices to help convey a more accurate and well rounded sense of Canadian History.
Does this make sense?
Yes @aiorio! You make perfect sense and I have loved reading your post and all the responses to it. Looking forward to you being introduced to the “How might we” framework on Saturday, to help you hone in on the area you wish to focus on.